David Frost joins Al Jazeera International

Veteran BBC TV presenter Sir David Frost has joined the line-up of Al-Jazeera International, an English-language news channel due to launch next year, the Qatar-based broadcaster said.

Frost, “the only person to have interviewed the last seven Presidents of the United States and the last six Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, has joined the line-up of key on-air talent at the new 24-hour English-language news and current affairs channel,” it said in a statement.

Al-Jazeera International will be launched in the spring of 2006 by Arab satellite broadcaster Al-Jazeera, which has become the Arab world’s most-watched channel since it was established in 1996 although it now faces growing competition from rivals.

“Most of the television I have done over the years has been aimed at British and American audiences. This time, while our target is still Britain and America, the excitement is that it is also the six billion other inhabitants of the globe,” Frost was quoted as saying.